Ukraine’s intelligence of the Ministry of Defense disrupted Russians’ deepfake attempt to discredit relationships with Turkey.

The Russian agents posed as Prime Minister, Denys Shmyhal of Ukraine, and tried to contact one of the founders of the Baykar defence company, which produces Bayraktar drones, Haluk Bayraktar via a live video call using deepfake technology.

A statement noted it was easy to debunk this case as the perpetrators reportedly had low levels of training and exposed themselves during the conversation by using incorrect Russian pronunciations of familiar Ukrainian phrases. The conversation with Bayraktar didn't go as expected. That's because the Russians were confronted by an intelligence operative who posed as Bayraktar’s press secretary. During the conversation he decided to agitate the imposters by asking them "What happened to the Crimean bridge?"

It is believed the purpose of this deepfake was an attempt to discredit cooperation between Ukraine and Turkey. At the end of the conversation, the Russian operatives were informed that they had been exposed and would be prosecuted.

Who created the deepfake?

Russian agents

Was the content disclosed as a deepfake?

No

Was the deepfake consensual?

No

How was the deepfake created?

Real-time video
Deepfake Software